www.facebook.com/himalayan.mirror www.himalayanmirror.net 2.00 ♦ A C C U R A T E B A L A N C E D ♦ C R E D I B L E GANGTOK, THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER 2014 VOL 9 No 48 RNI No: SIKENG/2006/18384 NEWS BRIEFS 7% DA increased The Sikkim government has announced a 7 percent increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for state government employees and Dearness Relief to state government pensioners effective from July 1 this year. The revised rate would be applicable to the All India Service Officers and Central government employees working under the state government on deputation, said a notification issued by the state finance department. The DA will also be admissible to contractual and workcharged employees also. Centre rejects demand for separate States Fire at ITBP mess A late night fire on Tuesday burned down a section of mess at the IndoTibetan Border Police camp located in Pegong near Chungthang, North Sikkim. According to the report received today, a fire tender belonging to Teesta Hydroelectricity company reached the spot and helped the ITBP personnel in controlling the fire. Chungthang police sources said the fire is suspected to have spread due to a short-circuit in the kitchen. The fire burned an entire section of the mess, but no casualty or injuries were reported. (HS) Drugs arrest Melli Police arrested a youth in possession of contraband substances late last evening during a routine check in Melli check post. The police have identified the accused as Firoz Ansari (19) from Kyongsa in Gyalshing, West Sikkim. Ansari was travelling from Siliguri to Gyalshing in a passenger vehicle. Police sources said Ansari acted suspicious when questioned and upon checking, a large quantity of contraband substances was found from his possession. A case under section 9/14 of SADA, 2006 has been registered against the accused.(HS) 12 arrested for flesh trade from resorts Jalpaiguri, Oct 29: Police last night raided two resorts located in Gachabari area of Dhoopguri and arrested 12 people, including three women, for their alleged involvement in flesh trade. The two resorts had been under the police radar ever since they started receiving information on suspicious activities, including prostitution. Last night, a team led by Japaiguri SP Kunal Aggarwal raided the two resorts and arrested 12 people, which included three women, four guests and five resort officials. All the accused have been arrested for their alleged involvement in prostitution. Among the arrested are Deepak Kumar from Siliguri, Asish Ranjan, Aditya Jyoti and Nirman Bedant from Kathiyar in Bihar. SP Kunal Agarwal said, “We have been receiving information about such activities from a few resorts in the area. Therefore, we raided two resorts last night and arrested 12 people.” All the arrested were shifted to Mateli PS last night and were today presented before the district court, which sent them to police custody. SP Agarwal said there are many other places in the region where such activities have been reported. “We will continue to conduct our raids and completely eradicate the business from the area,” he claimed. (HS) Gangtok, Oct 29: The centre doesn’t have any policy for creation of separate or autonomous states in the country at the moment. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju recently told a delegation of A s s am ’s H ills State Chowrasta buildings cut for flouting height limit HM Correspondent Darjeeling, Oct 29: The Darjeeling Municipality has started dismantling two stories of a building on Nehru Road below Chowrasta. Dismantling notice has also been served to another tourist resort on the Chowrasta for flaunting the legal building height. “The permissible height is 11.5m or 4 stories. Bothe the building have flaunted this rule. The building on Nehru road has already reached 6 stories. We had served them a notice three months ago to stop construction work and to dismantle the two floors. Though they had stopped construction they had not dismantled. On Wednesday the Municipality started dismantling the two illegal floors” stated Amar Rai, Chairman, Darjeeling Municipality. The owner of the building Urgen Palzor who is at present out of station could not be contacted for comments. The other building under construction is in Chowrasta and is a tourist resort. It is also a 6 storied structure and owned by Brij Mohan Garg. “We have already served a notice to stop construction and also to dismantle the two stories. We will again serve a fresh notice” added Rai. Democratic Party (HSDP) that the BJP hasn’t taken up the issue of separate states at the moment. He is said to have cited the case of Darjeeling where a BJP MP has been elected twice on a similar issue. In Darjeeling, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) spearheading the separate Gorkhaland statehood demand had backed BJP candidates Jaswant Singh and S.S.Ahluwalia in 2009 and 2014 general e l e c t i o n s r e s p e c t i v e l y. A h l u w a l i a ’s p o l l p i t c h was based on consideration of the Gorkhaland demand if BJP came to power at the centre. Various groups like the HSDP have also approached the centre demanding creation of a separate State comprising the two autonomous hill districts of Assam. They submitted a memorandum for creation of an entirely separate State detached from Assam. Given the lukewarm response from the centre on the separate statehood issue, Darjeeling’s political outfits are likely to criticize the GJM which had allied itself with the BJP with the Gorkhaland promise during the Lok Sabha elections twice. Basil sets refund deadline for 2021 HM Correspondent Kalimpong, Oct 29: A study forum formed by the juniors of Basil International, a chit fund company organized a meeting with the senior agents to discuss about the problems they have been facing after the Saradha scandal at GDNS hall this afternoon. The senior agents along with other members also had an interaction where the juniors and the general members questioned on the refund of the lump-sum amount. The senior ’s however could not give an assurance about the money but said that the maturity will be cleared within the year 2021. It was also informed that the agents are in continuous touch with the company and are trying to return the money to the public as soon as possible. Moreover the misplaced hard disc has been the core of the problems. Rajesh Singh, the Branch Manager said “The hard disc has been missing after the office got vandalized and we can do nothing without it.” The North Bengal Terai Dooars senior S.M Biswakarma while speaking to the media said Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling being welcomed by party workers on his return from the national capital at Rangpo tourist lodge, Wednesday afternoon. Ministers, party leaders and international archer Tarundeep Rai was also present at Rangpo where Chamling met the public for an hour. Gangtok, Oct 29: The state government has constituted a Committee to examine and work out the delimitation of ward boundaries of the Urban Local Bodies in Sikkim in accordance with Section 9 (a) (b) (c) of the Sikkim Municipalities Act, 2007. The Committee is headed by D P Sharma, Secretary Food & Civil Supplies and L.B. Chhetri, Special Secretary, Urban Development & Housing Department, H.B. Gurung, Director, Panchayat, Rural Management & HM Report Gangtok, Oct 29: An investor has lodged a complaint with the East District Police alleging that a private stock broker had fleeced his money and disappeared from Gangtok recently. Patna based journalist Kundan Kumar today filed his complaint against Ankit Sharda for going incommunicado after collecting Rs.5.25 Lakhs from him on pretext of investing in the stock market. Sharda ran a broking firm at MG Marg here and is suspected to have duped many other investors absconding some 10 months ago. Kumar, posted with a news agency in Gangtok during 2009-2010 said he had deposited Rs.5.25 Lakhs vide 4 cheques in Ankit Sharda’s wife Khusbu Sharda’s Account with ICICI Gangtok branch during the period. Everything was normal until last month when Kumar tried contacting Sharda for a refund of his invested money. All attempts to contact Sharda from multiple mobile numbers that he is not too sure with the refund and is expecting a letter from the company regarding their problems by the November 5. He also said if the company does not take any initiative to solve the problem, then there would be no other option besides going to the high court. The hounds of agents also had a wrathful argument in the meeting when they were not able to convince the members who were in debt. It was also known that Basil International-a nonbanking financial company had allegedly taken deposits from the public under the garb of redeemable preference shares from rural people after promising high returns in the range of 11-14 percent. The company rose about Rs 92 crore through redeemable cumulative preference shares till March 31, 2012. The president of the study forum Sushma Pradhan said, “The meeting dint draw a satisfactory conclusion and will sit for another discussion with the office staff, manager and few members of study forum to find out the mystery of the hard disc in Jaganath Bhawan tomorrow.” Development Department are members and M.N. Dhakal, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Election Department as Member Secretary. A notification to this effect was published on 17 Ocotber, just before the Dipawali and directed the committee to complete the delimitation process within four months from the date of notification and submit their report accordingly. As per the terms and reference of the delimitation committee, the delimitation of wards of Municipalities shall be done as per provision of Section 8 of the Sikkim Municipalities Act, 2007 adding that the committee will function as per the provisions laid in the Government Gazette Notification of 26, November 2007 (which has laid down the process and rules for delimitation of Municipal Wards). ‘While constituting Municipalities under section 8 of the Act each constituent ward of Municipality shall, as far as practicable be serially numbered maintaining continuity of the area to be organized as such ward in Municipalities,’ the terms and reference said. failed after which Kumar sensed foul and enquired about the stock broking firm. By then, Sharda had already closed operations in Gangtok and left the state capital along with his wife. In between, an evasive Sharda had communicated Kumar over mobile but never talked about the money. Ankit is suspected to have withdrawn all money from his wife’s account which is now dormant. A neighbor said that the couple shifted from Gangtok some 9-10 months ago. The complainant claimed that Ankit Sharda is presently staying at Surat in Gujarat and demanded that a case of fraud be filed against him. Superintendent of Police (East) D.B.Giri confirmed having received the complaint against Sharda adding that he may have conned several other investors around MG Marg area. “We will investigate and submit our report to the department for further action. The CID may also probe the case,” he added. SNPP welcomes ‘work-permits’ for non-Sikkimese HM Report Panel set for urban wards delimitation HM Correspondent Gangtok stock broker charged of conning investors Gangtok, Oct 29: Sikkim National People’s Party (SNPP) has welcomed the state government’s decision to introduce ‘work permits’ for non-Sikkimese working in the state. SNPP president Biraj Adhikari in a media statement said that the party endorses the government’s effort and expects concrete rules to implement this initiative at the earliest. ‘The concept of work permit for non-Sikkimese is perfectly in tune with the provisions of Article 371F of the constitution of India, which guarantees the preservation of Sikkimese identity and introduction of this initiatives shall reinforce this guarantee,’ the press statement read. SNPP has also expressed its disappointment at the vilification of the 9 opposition MLA’s who have recently lodged an FIR against Chief Minister Pawan Chamling adding that the language used by the ruling party in countering the allegations of these MLAs is totally unacceptable. While reminding the SDF party, SNPP said that these MLA’s have been elected by the people of Sikkim and the ruling party should have shown some respect. The release further added that the SNPP party further cautioned the ruling party that by making fun of the elected members, it is also disrespecting the people who have voted for them and this should be clear to a party which has ruled for 20 years on the votes of these very same people and not lost their trust, the release said. Verdict on NBU corruption case likely soon HM Correspondent Siliguri, Oct 29: The more than four and half year long case relating to suspension of registrar of North Bengal University on the allegation of misappropriation of crores of rupees is likely to come to an end soon. The case is pending before the Supreme Court where the next hearing is slated on November 11. On Tuesday, the Executive Council (EC) of NBU accepted the report of the one-man committee constituted to look into the allegations against Dilip Kumar Sarkar, the now suspended registrar. Sarkar was suspended from his post on March 30 2010 when the then vice chancellor filed FIR against him. He is accused for embezzlement of almost Rs 2 crore when he was the controller of examinations. He moved to Calcutta High Court against the decision to suspend him while the university moved to the Supreme Court’s against the High Court’s decision. That the report of the one-man committee was submitted and tabled before the EC meeting just two weeks before the Supreme Court hearing according to many is an indicator that a verdict on the case is soon expected. University authorities reserved their comments on the report of the enquiry committee on the ground that they might influence the court procedure. Meanwhile Sarkar said “I will have my honour and prestige back.”